INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.

This is where you will find the latest news and multimedia from INTERPOL. Read our news stories and speeches; see the Organization in action through videos and photo galleries; and download our fact sheets, brochures and annual reports.

Our global police communications channels and internationally recognized alert systems allow police around the world to share data instantly and securely. A 24-hour contact point and specialized teams provide targeted support to serious crime or disaster incidents.

Object ID

Object ID is the international standard for describing cultural objects, in order to facilitate their identification in case of theft.

In order to combat the illicit trade in cultural objects, international collaboration among a variety of types of organizations in both the public and private sectors is required.

The standard defined by Object ID is used by specialists and non-specialists alike. As such, it identifies broad concepts rather than specific fields and uses simple, non-technical vocabulary. It has been translated into 17 languages.

The standard was created with the following aims:

To provide a checklist of the information required to identify stolen or missing objects;

As a documentation standard that establishes the minimum level of information needed to describe an object for purposes of identification;

To develop information networks that will allow diverse organizations to exchange descriptions of objects rapidly;

To provide a solid basis for training programmes to teach the documentation of objects.

Object ID was conceived by the Getty Information Institute in collaboration with six key communities: